I’d say an alternative is to consider that, for individuals, government (mostly) issues prohibitions. You can’t do this or that. You can’t exceed a certain speed on this piece of tarmac. It seldomly induces you to do something…such as your examples of income or property tax collection.
But I agree with the characterization of businesses being treated much differently. They are induced to collect sales tax, as you noted.
Show me a group of people who live free of limits placed on them by their group and I will show you a bunch of humans who will die soon or be taken over by a bunch of rule following humans. Groups of humans are to memetic evolution what individuals are to genetic evolution and memetic evolution dominates human evolution because it is an unbelievably winning strategy. Even “free markets” are impossible without coercive constraints against theft and other torts which are handled by courts.
This is why humans don’t bridle against government coercion. Because they like being rich, healthy, and living in low crime neighborhoods. The only way libertarians can ever succeed is by privatizing coercion. This has been tried repeatedly throughout human history with fairly crappy results.
Of course this is all true. Even now, after so many years, every time I see my paycheck broken down, I'm angry that I don't even have the chance to refuse to pay the leeches.
Using coercion as an all inclusive term, including taxation or payments to services such as healthcare or social security stretches whatever moral stickiness BC is trying to suggest.
Interesting take.
I’d say an alternative is to consider that, for individuals, government (mostly) issues prohibitions. You can’t do this or that. You can’t exceed a certain speed on this piece of tarmac. It seldomly induces you to do something…such as your examples of income or property tax collection.
But I agree with the characterization of businesses being treated much differently. They are induced to collect sales tax, as you noted.
* COMMONWEALTH of Virginia!
Without taxation, the accounting profession (I'm an accountant) would be a SMALL fraction of what it is. The legal profession, too.
Show me a group of people who live free of limits placed on them by their group and I will show you a bunch of humans who will die soon or be taken over by a bunch of rule following humans. Groups of humans are to memetic evolution what individuals are to genetic evolution and memetic evolution dominates human evolution because it is an unbelievably winning strategy. Even “free markets” are impossible without coercive constraints against theft and other torts which are handled by courts.
This is why humans don’t bridle against government coercion. Because they like being rich, healthy, and living in low crime neighborhoods. The only way libertarians can ever succeed is by privatizing coercion. This has been tried repeatedly throughout human history with fairly crappy results.
Of course this is all true. Even now, after so many years, every time I see my paycheck broken down, I'm angry that I don't even have the chance to refuse to pay the leeches.
“We just need to convince people that indirect coercion of business is coercion of people.”
So what? You’re presupposing that all forms of coercion are wrong, when they clearly are not.
Okay, fine. The kinds of coercion employed by the government are wrong. (With rare possible exceptions.)
Using coercion as an all inclusive term, including taxation or payments to services such as healthcare or social security stretches whatever moral stickiness BC is trying to suggest.